20 April 2015

Plessey chosen by website showcasing 21st century British manufacturing

UK-based Plessey Semiconductors is being featured in a new website showcasing 21st century British manufacturing, to be launched on 23 April at the Building Centre Gallery in London (featuring keynote speeches from author and commentator Will Hutton and Terry Scuoler, chief executive of manufacturer's organization EEF) Ltd. The brainchild of former Financial Times manufacturing editor Peter Marsh, www.madeherenow.com aims to tell the story of modern-day industry through a series of articles, pictures and video on four exemplar companies.

Plessey was chosen for its innovative technology in the UK's electronics sector, developing new ways to make light-emitting diodes. Other case studies include Bentley Motors, FormFormForm, and Aesseal.

Plessey's LEDs are produced in the UK at the company's Plymouth wafer fabrication facility, using its proprietary GaN-on-silicon technology. The firm's MaGIC (Manufactured on GaN-on-Si I/C) high-brightness LED (HBLED) technology has already won numerous awards for its innovation and ability to cut the cost of LED lighting.

"By utilizing standard silicon semiconductor production techniques and process automation, Plessey is able to produce high-volume, high-quality, industry-standard LEDs that are demanded by the solid-state lighting market," says Plessey's chief technical officer Dr Keith Strickland. "Combining the inherent features of GaN-on-silicon (such as low thermal resistance and a focused light-emitting surface) with advanced packaging technology will permit monolithic integration of LEDs with other components and provide differentiated solutions for lighting applications. Plessey is working with a number of 'blue chip' lighting companies to develop application-specific LEDs (ASLEDs) for the next generation of lighting solutions," he adds.

"We are still very good at making things and manufacturing has immense potential to contribute substantially to our economy, however not enough people are aware of our success stories and one way to improve the growth prospects of UK industry is to find new ways to tell the world about it," comments Marsh. "We've already received significant support from leading organizations, such as JCB, Nesta, Rolls-Royce, Santander Bank, Siemens, the Royal Society and University of Cambridge," he adds.

A total of 46 organizations have already backed the website, which aims to educate young people on the career opportunities in manufacturing, influence academics and politicians, and change perceptions of Britain's industrial strengths.

In addition to the profiles of the exemplar companies, www.madeherenow.com will also feature articles from authors Jeremy Leonard (Oxford Economics), Marcus Gibson (Gibson Index) and James Woudhuysen (technology expert) covering the future for manufacturing in the developed world, the prospects for re-shoring, and major technology shifts, respectively. In a further contribution, economics professor Robert Rowthorn of the University of Cambridge makes the case for a program of 're-industrialization' to boost the UK economy.

Tags: Plessey GaN-on-Si HB-LEDs

Visit: www.madeherenow.com

Visit: www.plesseysemiconductors.com/led-plessey-semiconductors.php